TELF AG examines Texas’ performance in the renewable energy sector
The potential of solar energy
Texas recently overtook California in the special ranking of the US states with the most solar energy capacity for public utility use. In the second quarter of 2024, according to the American Clean Power Association, Texas would have reached 21.9 gigawatts of solar power, an amount slightly higher than California’s solar capacity, which is no more than 21.1 gigawatts. For a long time, Texas was the leading US state in wind energy production. Still, in this historical juncture, it has also established itself in several renewable energy areas, primarily solar energy and the battery sector.
Texas’ new solar energy capacity is equivalent to a fifth of the solar power generated in the entire country, and according to a recent analysis, another 12 gigawatts could be activated soon. Texas is certainly a sunny and windy state, but natural characteristics do not seem sufficient to explain such performances in the renewable energy sector.
According to the opinion of some experts cited in the analysis, the renewed centrality of Texas in this sector would also have to do with some administrative aspects. Some specific authorization processes would be faster than in other states, thus significantly facilitating the installation of new solar capacity within the state’s borders. The construction of renewable energy systems and their interconnection with existing infrastructures in Texas would be facilitated, with the consequence that the newly installed energy potential comes into operation much more quickly, even compared to other parts of the world. This model has also aroused some interest at the government level, so much so that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of the United States is considering extending it to the national level.
The Texas Boom
As the Financial Times recently explained, Texas’s performance seems particularly interesting compared to that of California, a state that has for many years been on the road to renewable energy through the installation of new solar panels (especially on the roofs of private homes, for which California still holds the record).
What has been recorded in Texas in recent years is a real boom in solar energy: only five years ago, the state had only 2 Gigawatts of solar power, a figure far lower than the current one. According to the think-tank Ember, when all the solar plants under construction come online, Texas could add more solar capacity per capita than any other country in the world in just one year, thus confirming its primacy even within the United States. Despite being partly dependent on gas, Texas is on the right path to derive maximum benefits from adding new capacity in solar energy. In the state, as the Financial Times recalls, there seems to be a widespread belief that renewables can be an excellent driving force for local economic development, and the data would seem to confirm this perspective. According to an energy policy expert cited by the Financial Times, even rural counties in Texas could reap a good share of the billions of dollars related to the storage and diffusion of renewable energy over the next few years.
